High strength, small diameter cord of the type disclosed in the United States Military specification for nylon cord, MIL-C-5040F dated Mar. 23, 1981, has numerous applications and uses in all branches of the military. Such cord is used to secure personal equipment onto belts, back-packs and vehicles, as well as to erect to secure shelters and tents. Applications for such cord range from replacements for boot laces to a life line in emergency repelling situations. In medical situations, it may be used to apply a tourniquet or a splint, or as an emergency tow or drag-line for rescues. The inner nylon fibers may even be used as sutures in extreme medical emergencies. In similar respects, the inner strands of such cord have been used in survival applications to produce nets, snares, or fishing line.
With respect to individuals, such cord or line is extremely useful around the house in gardening, landscaping and as means for securing objects for storage. Likewise, high strength cord finds many advantageous applications with cave explorers, back-packers, campers, hunters, boaters, mountaineers and rescue personnel. Indeed, for the outdoor person, a reliable high-strength cord is almost a necessity.
Such high strength, small diameter cord would also find application in numerous every-day situations encountered by public safety forces. For example, policemen or firemen could utilize such cord or line to rope off (i.e. to secure) scenes of accidents, crimes or fires. The cord could also be used to secure objects, restrain animals, or secure prisoners. A cord or line of sufficient strength could be utilized as an emergency line in situations involving ice, water or snow rescues. In the case of fires, a fire resistant cord would be extremely useful in assisting a rescuer in finding his/her way out of a burning building, allowing others to track injured or lost rescuers, or if necessary, as a building escape line from elevator locations in the burning building.
Thus, while it is abundantly clear that small diameter, high-strength cord or test line has application in numerous every-day situations in many occupations, a clear problem is that such cord is never immediately available when needed. If available at all, it is generally found loose or in a wrapped bundle stored in the trunk of a vehicle or in the bottom of the back-pack, often tangled when needed. The present invention overcomes this and other problems and provides a portable, light weight, hip-carried device for storing and dispensing high strength line wherein the line is immediate, available and easily extracted for use.